NCAA Tournament: Florida vs Texas Tech (Saturday, 8:40 pm ET)

Thursday, March 15

Dallas, TX

9:57 PM

Florida Gators

St. Bonaventure

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Graphic: Scott MacCord/UAA Communications

NCAA Tournament: Florida vs Texas Tech (Saturday, 8:40 pm ET)

Friday, March 16, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

A nuts and bolts look at UF's third-round game in the East Region at Dallas.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NCAA EAST REGION
FLORIDA vs TEXAS TECH

When: Saturday, 8:40 p.m. (ET)
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
Records: Florida (21-12); Texas Tech (25-9)
TV: TNT (Spero Dedes, Steve Smith, Len Elmore and Ros Gold-Onwude)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise)

STAKES (The Setup)

Chris Chiozza and Egor Koulechov tape a "Florida" label into the Round of 32 on the NCAA Tournament bracket in the locker room following Thursday night's defeat of St. Bonaventure.

Survive and advance. That's what the NCAA Tournament is about. Florida and Texas Tech did their part Thursday night in winning their second-round games and will meet Saturday night with a berth in the Sweet 16 next weekend in Boston to the winner. The crowd at American Airlines Center will be overwhelmingly pro-Tech, what with the Lubbock campus just six hours away and Dallas being home to thousands of alumni, many of whom made for a deafening crowd in the Red Raiders' win Thursday. ... The sixth-seeded Gators won their sixth straight NCAA opener by defeating No. 11-seed St. Bonaventure 77-62, thanks to one of the better across-the-board defensive efforts of the season. ... The Red Raiders, the bracket's No. 3-seed, had a tussle with cross-state foe and 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin before winning 70-60. The game was much closer than the final score might suggest. The Lumberjacks led by seven with 10 minutes to play, and by one with four minutes left, before Tech went on a 7-0 run to go up by six with just over two minutes left, took control and finished from there. ... Florida improved to 43-16 in 19 all-time NCAA Tournaments (excluding the 3-2 record in '87 and '88 vacated appearances), while Texas Tech is now 9-16 in 16 trips. ... UF leads the all-time series 2-0, but the Gators and Red Raiders will be playing for the first time in nearly 56 years. The last meeting came on Dec. 8, 1962, when Florida won 71-69 in overtime at Lubbock on Dec. 8, 1962, behind 19 points from Tony Barbee and 18 from Taylor Stokes. You remember those guys, right?

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Egor Koulechov	F	6-5	205	G-Transfer	13.8 pts / 6.5 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	C	6-9	225	Junior	4.8 pts / 5.0 reb
Jalen Hudson	G	6-6	192	R-Junior	15.3 pts / 3.9 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Junior	11.1 pts / 2.3 reb
Chris Chiozza	PG	6-0	180	Senior	11.1 pts / 4.4 reb / 6.2 ast

Texas Tech	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Norense Odiase	C	6-9	245	R-Junior	4.1 pts / 4.7 reb
Justin Gray	G	6-6	210	Senior	5.0 pts / 3.4 reb
Zhaire Smith	G	6-5	195	Freshman	11.2 pts / 4.7 reb
Jarrett Culver	G	6-5	190	Freshman	11.7 pts / 4.8 reb
Keenan Evans	G	6-3	190	Senior	17.5 pts / 3.1 reb / 3.2 ast

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

Guard **Keenan Evans** was a first-team All-Big Conference selection in 2018, and just may find his way onto some All-America teams as they get released in the coming week. The 6-foot-3 senior was the heart and soul of a Red Raiders squad defined mostly by its defense, though Evans had his moments filling up the scoring column, as well. In averaging 17.5 points per game, Evans shot 47.4 percent from the floor, had eight games of at least 20 points and three when he scored at least 30, including a career-high 38 in a home win over Texas. In that one, Evans went 18-for-20 from the free-throw line. Driving, drawing contact and getting to the line is his specialty. He's gotten there 219 times this season and hit 81.2 percent, with his 10-for-10 night against Stephen F. Austin as good an indicator as any. In his final home game, Senior Day against Texas Christian, Evans scored all 23 of his points in the second half, and went 10 of 10 from the line in that one, as well.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

ABOUT THE GATORS: They're now 4-1 under Mike White in NCAA Tournament play, making White the only coach in program history to guide the Gators to that many tourney wins in his first three seasons. ... UF is coming off one of its best defensive performances of the season, as the Gators held the Bonnies to just 35 percent shooting (including 26.1 in the first half), and ran away with the game by forcing five turnovers and two missed shots on USB's first seven possessions of the second half to open a 14-point lead. Along the way, Florida played the way it plays best -- as in fast -- and scored 25 points off 18 turnovers, and outscored St. Bonanventure 24-10 in fastbreak points ... Point guard Chris Chiozza was masterful against the Bonnies, finishing with eight points, 11 assists and no turnovers. In doing so, Chiozza became the first player to have at least 11 assists and no turnovers in an NCAA Tournament game since Virginia Commonwealth's Joey Rodriguez (also 11 and 0) did it in the second round against Purdue in 2011. That's not all. Chiozza, in running his season's assist total to 205, joined Nick Calathes as the only players in UF history to amass at least 200 assists in a single season. Calathes had 221 as a freshman in 2007-08 and 231 as a sophomore in '08-09. ... Swingman Jalen Hudson and forward Egor Koulechov both had tough shooting nights in Florida's loss to Arkansas last week at the Southeastern Conference Tournament, when they combined to go 5-for-20 and just 4-for-12 from deep. The two bounced back against the Bonnies, though, as Koulechov led all scorers with 20 points, with four 3s, and Hudson added 16. ... Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen made just two of his field-goal tries in the game, but he was fabulous on the defensive end. White would take that trade against the Raiders, especially in the instances when Allen is matched against Evans. Allen temporarily left the team Friday to be with his family in his home state of Arkansas following the death of a close family friend. He is scheduled to rejoin the team Saturday, well in time for the game. ... Forward Keith Stone had a strong outing off the bench Thursday, with nine points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots in 25 minutes. ... Center Kevarrius Hayes played just 10 minutes. Though he scored the first basket of the game, he finished with two points, one rebound, one assist and a steal. He has just 10 points and 17 rebounds over the previous five games. If Hayes could have one of those 7-and-7 kind of nights like he had in some SEC

games this season, the Gators would have an interior offensive presence they sorely need. ... ABOUT THE RED RAIDERS: They're now 43-23 in two seasons under Chris Beard after winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 2005, a year they advanced to the Sweet 16 under Bob Knight. Beard was named the Big 12 Conference co-coach of the year, sharing the honor with Kansas's Bill Self, after guiding Tech to its most wins in 21 years, including an 11-7 mark in Big 12 play that was good enough for a second-place tie in the standings. Along the way, the Raiders ascended to a program-record No. 2 ranking and registered an historic victory at Kansas. At one point, Tech won seven straight, then went on a four-game tailspin late in the season (due to some injuries) before winning the season finale, then one game in the league tournament before losing to West Virginia in the semifinals. ... The Raiders, who work mostly out of a four-guard alignment, led the Big 12 in scoring defense (64.7 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (.403), and finished second in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.328). Nationally, they rank fourth in adjusted defensive efficiency. They'll play a lot of 2-3 zone, but break into man mid-possession. ... Guards Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith were two of the best freshmen in the country this season, amassing near-identical statistics (Culver had 391 points to Smith's 377; Smith had 164 rebounds to Culver's 162). Culver is very good in one-on-one situations and can drive the ball and finish at the rim (47.9 percent from the floor), but more than half of his shots have been 3s, where he converted at 41.5 percent in league play. Smith was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive team as a rookie. He's a crazy athletic and will crash the glass on both ends. He shot 56 percent for the season. ... Guard Justin Gray, who starred at Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep, is a versatile wing who will hit open shots, but his strength is energy and defense. ... Reserve guard Brandon Francis had his struggles in his one season at Florida (2.0 points, 1.0 rebound during 2015-16), but the change of scenery since transferring Tech has served him well. Francis, who shot 20 percent from the floor and a woeful 10-for-59 from 3 (.169), has become one of Beard's most reliable reserves at 46 percent overall and 32-for-81 from distance (.395).

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

Tony Battie was drafted fifth overall by the Denver Nuggets and had a 14-year NBA career for six different teams after helping Texas Tech to the best season in school history in 1996.

* .571 — Florida's winning percentage in neutral-site games this season, based on a 4-3 record. The Gators beat Stanford and Gonzaga, but lost to Duke at the PK80 in Portland, Ore., beat Cincinnati at the Never Forget Tribute Classic in Newark, N.J., lost to Clemson in the Orange Bowl Classic at Sunrise, Fla., and won Thursday over St. Bonaventure here in Dallas.

* .769 — Florida's winning percentage in second NCAA Tournament games, based on a 10-3 record. UF last lost its second game in 2005, when it defeated Ohio U to open the tournament in Nashville, Tenn., then was eliminated by Villanova.

* 4 — Double-digit assists games for Chiozza this season. He had 11 against Stanford, 10 against Gonzaga, a career-high 12 against Auburn, and 11 against the Bonnies.

* 14 — Consecutive NCAA Tournament games the Gators have played as the higher seed. That streak will end against the Raiders.

* 1996 — The year Texas Tech went 30-2, under Coach James Dickey, and led by the likes of James Sasser, Darvin Ham and Tony Battie, the Raiders advanced to the Sweet 16 in what was considered the finest season in school history -- until rampant NCAA infractions were discovered and the program was placed on four years probation.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

UF's runs to the Sweet 16 in all five of its previous NCAA appearances is outstanding. Extending that string to six straight would make for as impressive a feat as any before it, given what the Gators will be up against as far as home-court advantage.